One of the fun things that does happen on Facebook and Twitter are challenges that come out. I ran a little hashtag query last week on Twitter using #MyFirstAnime and got a lot of responses from my followers about what shows got them into anime and it lead to a variety of discussions about the shows, the way fandom was at those times and so forth. So with this being a new site and gaining new readers in addition to the old guard, I decided it was a good time to re-introduce the anime side of myself. Not just to new readers and old alike, but to myself as well to see where I fall on things. And then I got linked to one of many 30 Days of Anime Challenges out there. So, with a bit of luck, we’ll be doing a daily challenge here to look at what it is to be an anime fan with all its quirks. For this opening segment though, I’ve grabbed a few of the staff to provide a look at their first introductions as well to see what kind of range we had with when and how people got interested.
For myself, my anime introduction came in a couple of stages. I mostly missed the late 70’s and early 80’s stage of Starblazers, though my next door neighbor was hooked, and I had watched Battle of the Planets at like 6 AM every day because nothing else was on before school and the like. But where I became aware of what anime was came in the form of Robotech. That was the show that I raced home from school every day to catch and one that my mother watched with me since, considering the times with what else was on, show a far more mature approach to war, relationships and more and she heartily approved. My direct anime exposure resulted from that with the acquisition of the Macross movie bootleg at a local science fiction convention back in the mid 80’s. I ended up seeing a few other things over the years from that scene (and a whole lot of hentai for this impressionable lad), but it was when the comic book store I used to go to, Bop City Comics, started offering licensed VHS tapes from Streamline and AnimEigo. I had things like Lensman, Akira and Wicked City. But it was the arrival of Bubblegum Crash, yes, Crash, that cemented me as fan who wanted the authentic experience. While I adored the Macross movie and how it diverged so heavily and was so stunningly beautiful, Crash was where I really got a good dose of translated, subtitled and annotated anime that showed me there was so much more. What made me the long time fan that I am now though? The double whammy combination of Kimagure Orange Road and Urusei Yatsura. These are the foundations of my anime fandom and they continue to all be shows that I can go back and adore – and overlook their faults!
So, where did others writing for the site come from?
Lori Lancaster, Staff Reviewer
I’ve been watching anime for as long as I can remember. In Jr. High and High school my family used to take trips to the local video stores and rented various shows for us. The first series that ever really ‘wowed’ me would have to have been Sailor Moon. Serena was a normal girl who suddenly had her world turned totally upside down and reacted just like anyone else would… she panicked. Watching her evolve during just the first two seasons alone was very interesting. Sailor Moon’s main draws for me have always been the story line and the character development. They were more than just plain two dimensional drawings up on the screen. They had real problems that could coincide with real life situations. The character designs were also very easy on the eyes. There was simply nothing like it at the time. The ending point for the second season drove me more than a little crazy. It simply made little sense to end it after a minor battle when there was still the rest of the war to be fought. I found myself wanting to see the rest of the story. I also wanted to see if there were any other shows out there like it. I had officially become a fan of the mahou shoujo genre at that point. After that I would go on to try out other shoujo series solely due to the genre’s hallmark traits.
Isuzu Inugami, Forum Moderator
My first anime experience was an art theatre showing of Akira. But that doesn’t count–I approached it as a science fiction fan, found it muddled; and worse yet, it had psychic stuff, which everyone knows isn’t REAL science fiction. (Yes, for the record, my opinion on the film has shifted since then.) I was left wondering what the big deal about this “Japanimation” stuff was.
A year or two later, I was working in a comic shop and dipping my toes into Viz and Dark Horse’s fledgling manga releases–things like Lum and Outlanders–and realizing I really liked the visual and storytelling style. So one day at the video store, on a whim and practically at random I rented something called Project A-Ko. Now, Project A-Ko is a fan’s sort of show, full of in-jokes and references, practically none of which I understood. Even now I wouldn’t be surprised if half of what’s in that film still flies by me. What I did understand was that after sitting through an hour and a half of its manic craziness, I had enjoyed every minute of it; and that there wasn’t anything quite like it to be found in the world of science fiction and comics that I knew. A week later I rented Beautiful Dreamer, a wonderful film in an almost entirely different way, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Kaikou, Forum Moderator
I remember quite well when I first got into anime, but at the time I had no idea that is what I was watching. As such I’m going to ignore shows like Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics or The Littl’ Bits. The very first anime that I watched, knowing it was anime, was the series Devil Hunter Yohko. After that first episode I just had to see the rest of the series and I swear it was because of the intricate story! It had everything in it that just wasn’t in the other cartoons I was watching. At the time it was mind blowing to see the level of violence, nudity and a story that was utterly unique compared to anything at the time. This is also the series that nudged me into having the preference of the original Japanese language when watching anime, as not all the VHS tapes were dubbed at my local video rental store. From here I went on to such anime as Tenchi, Ranma and various OVA series, however what really got me hooked on a very deep level would have to be Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon.
Sailor Moon opened me up to a series that had such a strong cast of characters, great mix of drama and action, as well as an amazing soundtrack. I was hooked! Like many at the time, I was first introduced to the dub version, but quickly found out about two brothers, collectively known as VKLL, who were fansubbing the episodes that weren’t released in the USA. I ended up getting the entire series on VHS and have since then purchased the entire series on DVD. This series ultimately introduced me to many great people from Fake Moon Chat, AnimeonDVD and now hopefully even more from The Fandom Post.
Kate O’Neil, Staff Reviewer
I watched too many cartoons as child in the 80’s, but somehow missed Voltron and Robotech, because I was in my little girl ‘My Little Pony’ phase. I did watch ‘Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater’, but it was years later before I realized the country of origin for that franchise.
Flash forward to my freshman year of high school. I’d arrive home at my house at exactly 2:23 in the afternoon, plop myself on the couch, and flip on TV to watch the Disney Afternoon and snack. One day I caught the tail end of Sailor Moon, a show I was only familiar with through terrible commercials. I believe it was the cruise ship episode, and I remember thinking the show was horribly lame. Yet I watched it anyway because, hey, it was either that or soap operas.
A week or two passed with me watching only the last five minutes before I hit episode 24. Let’s just say that episode doesn’t have a happy ending, and that’s when it hit me. There was a deeper plot to this monster-of-the-week show. From that point on I started taping it and watching the whole thing when I got home from school. Guilty pleasure that it was, I was sucked in, there was no escape.
What followed was a descent into anime as a whole. Mixx(Tokyopop) came into existence and I started buying the manga. I discovered Rayearth and seventh generation VHS fansubs. The internet was young and full of fan sites with artwork and information and, more importantly, where to find more. I hit college right when Toonami took off, and ended college at the first Anime Boston.
All thanks to channel 56 airing Sailor Moon in the afternoons.
Greg Smith, Staff Reviewer
I’ve had three periods of being into anime, but I’ll pass over the first two, since they did not lead to any long term interest or commitment. That only started around 2000, when I began to watch anime again thanks to Cartoon Network’s Toonami block and the later Adult Swim programming slate. Still, I was only a very casual anime consumer at that point, buying nothing and perhaps only rarely visiting any anime websites. But from that period, the show that probably got me seriously hooked on anime was Cowboy Bebop. As I was always (and still am) a science fiction fan, it was easy to slip into the story and universe of Bebop, following the exploits of Spike, Faye, Jet, and Ed, careening around the galaxy in search of the bounty that would make them all wealthy enough to retire. And not succeeding at it. While it would only be later with the arrival of more outlets for anime, especially cable video on-demand offerings that introduced me to the larger world of North American releases (it was fortunate that ADV, Geneon, and CPM were eager then to take advantage of the new means of advertising their wares, and so they offered their shows for free on the on-demand systems), that I would get into the buying and collecting phase of my interest in anime, I would probably never have gotten to that point if it had not been for Bebop and the other shows CN in its various forms was showing at the time (FLCL, Inuyasha, .hack/SIGN, Sailor Moon, Tenchi).
Dunno001, Forum Moderator
I’d have to say that many things in my life today are due to a screw-up in high school. Without going into details, my getting into anime is one of them. The error let me meet a friend who had apparently recently discovered anime himself. When he found out that I also played role-playing games, he showed me 2 tapes of Slayers. Of course, this was all that he had at the time, and he said he’d be getting the rest. I loved it, and asked where he got it.
So, I went to this small local store he referred me to. I told the employee that I’d just seen some Slayers, and wanted something else that they could recommend. They motioned me to the new release section, where there was a big boxset of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor. They did caution me that it was subtitled only, but I figured that it would be an interesting viewing experience to try it. Getting a whole series so I’d not be hanging sounded good; the $130 price tag at the time didn’t. But I bit the bullet. It led to my being a rather hardcore subtitle fanatic, though I’d like to think that I’ve come down from that. (Hey, FUNi, where’s more Hetalia? I want to watch more of that dub!) And now, here I am today, for better or worse…
Bryan Morton, Staff Reviewer
It’s 1992. I’m an open-minded 20-year-old, standing in Our Price (UK readers might remember them) with this rather unusual VHS tape in hand: Project A-Ko. It’s from a company called Manga Entertainment, it’s got a few nicely-drawn schoolgirls on the front cover, and… what’s this? Fighter planes? A girl in a powered suit of some sort? A description about alien invasions? Okaaaaaay, curiosity button pressed. I take the tape to the cash desk (probably blushing heavily, as this does not look like a particularly manly thing to be buying), get it home, throw it in the VCR….
…and so, it begins. That one tape has a hell of a lot to answer for, as it’s what first got me interested in anime. The appeal was a combination of visual A-ko had a look like nothing else Id seen at that point and humour, with the movies gags and in-jokes (A-kos dad strongly hinted to be Superman, for starters) tweaking my funnybone just right. It made the association for me that Japanese animation was good, and that led on to other things.
At that point, I had very little idea about what anime actually was, but pointer came from UK SuperNES magazine Play which had 1-2 pages of anime coverage in each issue at the time. Crying Freeman and Akira soon followed, while my curiosity was piqued by screenshots of a show called Sailor Moon (although I didn’t get to actually see that until Fox Kids UK started showing it, I think in 1999). But it was the adventures of A-ko & C-ko that sealed my fate. Nearly 20 years later, Im sitting on a collection of well over 1,300 releases (still small compared to Chris Bs, Ill admit) and still enjoying quite a few current shows. Thanks, Manga. I think.
Sean Connolly, Staff Reviewer
While I was exposed to Speed Racer and Starblazers first, the first show that really clicked with me that I knew of as “Japanese Animation” was Voltron. Originally known as both Beast King Golion and Armored Fleet Dairugger both shows were created by World Events Productions and put into one show (similar to Robotech). The show premiered in 1984 (when I was five) and through my uncle, I was informed about the show’s origins and a country known as Japan. My Uncle was a military man, like both of my parents but often visited to see his only nephew. He taught me, through comparing the different cartoons how to spot the ones that was originally from Japan and which ones weren’t.
I guess what caught my eye the most about Voltron was both the plot and the robot itself (I ended up sticking to the Lion Force part of the story). It took place on Arus where the evil Zarkon and his henchmen were terrorizing the good people with Robeasts. Five Pilots were sent to the planet to stop Zarkon with the power of Voltron; A robot made of five parts that combined to form a powerful super robot. I was always impressed with the plot because it was always progressing instead of consisting of one shot episodes. As for Voltron? Well, the thing was made of lions! It formed a sword from nothing! How freakin’ cool is that?! Optimus Prime couldn’t do that!
Thus, my love for Super Robots was born.
To this day, I still remember the transformation sequence of Voltron by heart (what the hell are “dyna-thurms” anyway). To this day, I still love Japanese Animation. Media Blasters released both Voltron and the original shows on DVD and are still available. I only picked up the originals since I never watched them before then. Why not Voltron? Because I prefer the rose tinted color of nostalgia. I honestly don’t want that feeling ruined. So, I’ll keep it pure. That five year old boy would want it that way.
Hayate Kurogane, Forum Moderator
While the “Clash of the Bionoids” edit of the Macross movie was my first viewed anime title ever, the title that really kicked off the wallet-draining obsession phase of my anime hobby was the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. I was attending a friend’s birthday party in December of 1997 and, based on some advice, I purchased the first dub VHS tape released by ADV as a present for him. That evening, we all decided to sit down and watch that tape, containing the first two episodes.
This was something new and different, and enjoyably so. The animation was sharp and stylish, and clearly designed to be realistic (despite the obvious fantastic sci-fi elements); quite a bit different than most of the domestic animated shows I’d been used to watching on TV. But more so than the look, it was the storytelling and characters that struck me as interesting. This was, in modern Internet parlance, serious business. Adults doing adult things, characters responding as real people would, and a story that didn’t talk down to its audience. And also, the unusual plot structure choice, even now, for the first episode to end on a cliffhanger at the beginning of a battle, only for the second episode to pick right up briefly, then jump ahead to tell the story of the day afterward, then flash back to show the viewer the battle in its entirety. What on earth was this? Where could I find more?
The next day, I went and bought myself a copy of that first VHS tape. Those two episodes remain my most-watched episodes in all the anime I’ve seen thus far, and I can pretty much lay out those episodes beat-by-beat from memory to this day. And that was the beginning of an enjoyable, albeit expensive, hobby.
Julie Rosato, Staff Reviewer & Forum Goddess
Like most people past a certain age, there were years of fascinating childhood cartoons involving robots and space fleets, but my first real gateway to the fandom was the Bubblegum Crisis OVA in the early 90’s. Great rousing music, epic action scenes, and heartbreaking stories set in a cyberpunk Tokyo were only the beginning; it was the cast of intelligent women leading double lives and surviving on strengths even greater than the hardsuits they wore that really made these “babes in battle armor” the first of my anime obsessions. It sounds corny, but watching girls kick ass against injustice and human greed years before “girl power” would become fashionable really struck a chord with the teen-aged me. And since I’d always loved animation in general, it was easy for this show to turn me on to other highly-stylized and plot-driven stories found only in anime at the time. I’ve seen more shows than I can recount since then and my fandom may have changed over time, but Bubblegum Crisis is responsible for making those stories with great female characters and strong themes of friendship, loyalty, and fighting spirit my favorite kind.
John Rose, Staff Reviewer
Where one comes into anime depends on a number of factors that include age and social circle. For me it was finding Battle of the Planets nestled in my cartoon schedule which included Scooby Doo and Super Friends. While at the time I had no idea the show I was watching came from another country and had been adapted to make it more receptive to my young age group something about the show lasted with me though as I remember hunting for different things from it and recall coming across some book I wasn’t able to get and having that memory stick with me for years. During those years I found myself continuing to search for items related to the show when I lucked into the early days of home video becoming a mass entertainment venue. At this time a small video store in town got in a selection of cartoons, many of which helped remind me of the old series I loved and had never forgotten about which today I recognize as having been adaptations from anime as well and it helped keep the flame alive for a few more years. While the anime bug took a bit longer to completely hook me in the late VHS early DVD days the seeds that would bear roots was planted very early on and in a very subtle manner so it felt familiar when I finally was introduced to the medium in an official way.
Ancar, Forum Moderator
As a child of the 80’s, I look back fondly upon the children’s programming Nickelodeon aired during that era. They are also to thank for broadcasting the first anime I ever watched: Maple Town. While I didn’t care much to play with dolls as a little girl, I loved any animal toy I could get my hands on. Paired with the toy playsets that were released, the anamorphic adventures of Patty Rabbit, Bobby Bear, and all of their family and friends were right up my alley. I don’t think I knew at first that Maple Town was an anime series, but I did realize there was something definitely different about it from the usual American cartoons I watched. Maple Town: One of my favorite place(s) to be as a child, and also the keystone to my anime fandom that would emerge over a decade later!
